Chapter 58 The Magic Tactic
The New York Knicks opened their attack again with Langley providing a screen for Houston, who drew a switch and passed the ball. Ewing went one-on-one with Jordan, took a turn-around jumper amidst interference, and missed. Rodman secured the rebound for a set battle.
Jordan got the ball on the right side, this time Johnson retreated to double-team, leaving Rodman unguarded.
Jordan didn't pass; it wasn't that he hogged the ball, but rather that a pass to his teammate wouldn't have resulted in a score, and it would have been tough on Rodman. Jordan turned toward the baseline, and Ward also retreated near the paint, with three men surrounding Jordan, he passed the ball.
From the left bottom corner, Harper took an open three-point shot that missed, and the rebound was grabbed by Ewing.
Seeing the current lineup of the Chicago Bulls, Jerry felt that if Pippen didn't return, it would be quite an achievement for Jordan to lead the team to the playoffs. Their current record was nothing short of a miracle.
The essence of the triangle offense was that at the start of the attack; the point guard handed off the ball to the small forward pulled to the outside, then cut to the strong-side corner without it.
This overturned the traditional understanding of basketball offensive formations. In traditional formats, forwards were forwards, and guards were guards. The triangle offense turned it upside down.
The strength of this formation was that the two guards were spaced out, with an orchestrating forward in the middle, which was why Pippen and Kukoc had decent assist figures.
Unfortunately, if the guard in the corner wasn't good at three-pointers, the triangle offense would lose much of its effectiveness, failing to create perfect one-on-one opportunities for the stars. "Zen Master" Jackson wasn't daring enough to start Kerr; his defense was too weak.
Besides, Kukoc's defensive capabilities were not up to Pippen's level, so on both offense and defense, this Chicago Bulls had weaknesses.
The New York Knicks went on the offensive, and Jerry stood up and shouted to the sidelines, "Charlie, Larry, play number two."
The players on the court adapted swiftly, changing the formation.
Ward passed to Johnson, who was pulled out to the left three-point line, and in the middle, Ewing set an off-ball screen for Houston to shake off Jordan towards the right. At that moment, Johnson delivered a short pass to Ward against Rodman.
This type of cut was a simple play from the Hawks' offense. It started with Ewing drawing Langley to the middle, followed by Houston's off-ball movement. If Ewing could block Jordan for just a second, the play would succeed, and Houston was one of the best off-ball players in the league during this era.
After receiving the ball, Houston took one step to create space from the slightly slower Langley, stopped abruptly, shot, and scored a perfect basket. 5 to 2.
When Langley turned around, Houston's shot was already on its way, and with his height, he could only extend his hand for a slight disturbance.
The Chicago Bulls continued their triangle offense, with Ward allowing Harper a two-step gap on the baseline, ready to form a double-team on Jordan inside the three-point line.
Jordan moved to the other side and was double-teamed by Johnson, not much slower than on the perimeter. Leaving Rodman open didn't matter, at most he would lob the ball to the center under the basket, creating a one-on-one situation.
If the center was O'Neal, passing it down would be an opportunity. But if it were Langley, how would he get past Ewing?
Jordan, near the paint, was trapped and passed out to Kukoc, who missed a shot under Houston's disruption, with Ewing again seizing the rebound.
The offense switched to defense, and on the New York Knicks' Hawks-style attack, Houston caught the ball, took a mid-range shot, and scored again thanks to his positioning, eluding Langley. 7 to 2.
Jordan, trapped again, passed out to a wide-open Rodman for a three-pointer.
Even a big open shot wasn't a good opportunity for Rodman, who averaged 4.7 points; the ball bounced off the rim, and Ewing once more seized the rebound. With Rodman on the perimeter, it was easier for the opponent to get the defensive board.
Once again, Ewing set a screen for Houston, who this time actively chased by Jordan, managed to pass back to the middle after a 45-degree stop. Ewing received the ball and shot, Langley was too far to jump and disrupt, and the shot went in. 9 to 2.
The Chicago Bulls attacked, and the New York Knicks' players, except for Houston, fell back, clogging the paint. Jordan, making a turn-around fadeaway on the right side, was disrupted by both Bowen and Johnson, and the ball bounced off the rim.
Rodman failed to secure the rebound, and Ewing passed to Ward, leading a fast break one-on-one at the frontcourt.
Houston pulled and changed direction, shaking off Kukoc by half a body to force a layup that went in. Kukoc, at 6.8 feet tall with moderate speed and agility, was outplayed. 11 to 2.
The match had just begun when "Zen Master" Jackson, uncharacteristically, called for a timeout. He realized this wasn't going to be fixed by the players' self-adjustment; the Chicago Bulls were uncontainable.
Marv Albert exclaimed with surprise, "The New York Knicks began perfectly on both offense and defense, suppressing the Chicago Bulls. As soon as Ewing returned, the Knicks' offense immediately jumped up a notch."
Glickman sighed. "The Chicago Bulls' tactic needs a strong scoring guard, a forward with robust organizing ability, or a powerful center to create one-on-one opportunities for the stars. Langley just isn't capable."
After the timeout, the Chicago Bulls still couldn't muster an effective attack. Jordan kept getting trapped, and Jackson didn't have many options. He didn't even substitute, just sticking with the starting lineup, only stressing the need for faster defensive rotations.
In Jerry's past life, many wondered why followers of the "Zen Master" such as Fisher and Brian Shaw couldn't execute the triangle offense well. The answer was simple, to master this technique, one must first have two stars, at least one of whom must be a megastar.
Without stars, Jackson couldn't execute the triangle offense well; his moniker "Zen Master" came because he seldom called timeouts, letting the stars adjust on the court while he sat with closed eyes, earning the nickname "13th Lord".
The New York Knicks didn't adjust either, utilizing mismatched one-on-ones after screens to create opportunities. Where the Knicks outshined the Bulls was in shooting, everyone on the floor except Ewing could hit threes. This stretched the Bulls' defense too thin for double teams, with mindful help defense a must. Any room given, and the Knicks' players would immediately take three-point shots from the outside.
At the end of the first quarter, the New York Knicks led the Chicago Bulls by 15 points with a score of 34 to 19, shocking everyone.
The second quarter was a battle of the benches, and the dominance of the New York Knicks was still evident.
The Chicago Bulls put in Steve Kerr, Dickey Simpkins for the double guard, and Scott Burrell, Jason Caffey paired in the frontcourt, with center Bill Wennington at 7 feet tall and 245 pounds.
The New York Knicks boasted a strong squad of Atkins, Starks, Mills, Oakley, and Ben Wallace.
Previously, Kukoc, as the sixth man, ensured a certain offensive firepower, but now he was starting and resting in the second quarter, weakening the Bulls' attack.
Caffey, at 6.7 feet high, weighing 128 pounds, alongside Wellington, formed an internal line with limited mobility. Struggling to score under the basket, they were eventually forced to rely on perimeter shots.
Having secured their defense against Korr's three-point shots, the Chicago Bulls posed minimal threats. In only three and a half minutes, the New York Knicks had managed to build a lead of 21 points, prompting the Bulls to hustle Jordan, Kukoc, and Rodman back onto the court.
Despite an escalated offensive prowess, the Bulls still struggled to counter the effective pick-and-roll by the Knicks, continuing to trail in the scoreline.
In the second half, Starks, Houston, and Mills consecutively scored on the three-point line. Their 7 successful shots out of 13 attempts in a single quarter completely stunned their opponents.
Jordan managed to garner 27 points, but with a shooting accuracy of merely 40%. The rest of his team fared no better.
Under the scrutiny of a national audience, the New York Knicks led with a score of 86 to 60 by the end of the third quarter; the game had essentially entered garbage time.